Our History: Much history in fire-charred South Highlands mansion

12:23 AM,
Jun. 30, 2014

The Steere Mansion in the 1940s, when Times publisher and editor John D. Ewing owned it.

Written by

John Andrew Prime

Quick action by Shreveport firefighters, who overcame odds and equipment-barring narrow streets in a two-alarm fire Tuesday on Ockley Drive, helped stop the city from being robbed of much important history.

The afternoon fire destroyed much of a storied two-story mansion that has seen a lot of Shreveport's civic, business and political leaders come and go.

The house was built in the early to mid-1920s by Shreveport developer and capitalist Albert C. Steere, who helped plan and build the city's South Highlands, Broadmoor and Dixie Garden neighborhoods. His vision also included setting ...